In the wireless telecommunications field it is anticipated that there will be an ever increasing Common Control Channel (CCCH) congestion problem due to the increase of small data transmissions (SDTs) and instant message transmissions (IMTs) as a result of the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) traffic and the frequent small packet transmissions which are going to be generated by mobile stations (e.g., smart phones). Various solutions to address the CCCH congestion problem and other problems are the subject of the present invention.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to within the following description of the present invention.    AGCH Access Grant Channel    ARFCN Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number    ATI Additional TBF Information    BCCH Broadcast Control Channel    BSS Base Station Subsystem    CCCH Common Control Channel    CS Circuit Switched    DRX Discontinuous Reception    EGPRS Enhanced General Packet Radio Service    EPCR Enhanced Packet Channel Request    eTFI Enhanced Temporary Flow Identity    eUSF Enhanced Uplink State Flag    FN Frame Number    IA Incoming Access    IE Information Element    LAP Low Access Priority    LLC Logical Link Control    MAC Media Access Control    M2M Machine-to-Machine    OSAP Optimized System Access Procedure    PACCH Packet Associated Control Channel    PCH Paging Channel    PDU Packet Data Unit    PFC Packet Flow Context    PRR Packet Resource Request    PUA Packet Uplink Assignment    PUAN Packet Uplink Ack/Nack    RF Radio Frequency    RLC Radio Link Control    SI System Information    TBF Temporary Block Flow    TCH Traffic Channel    TDMA Time Division Multiple Access    TLLI Temporary Logical Link Identity    TOI Temporary OSAP Identity    TSC Training Sequence Code